Medical Assistant Pay in the Southeastern U.S.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released earlier this year put the number of medical assistants (MA) at work in the United States at over 710,000 as of May 2020. Per BLS data, approximately 182,000 medical assistant jobs were in the twelve-state Southeastern region of the country. In general, the Southeastern U.S. was the worst in the nation for medical assistant pay, with six states in the region ranked among the ten states in the country with the lowest annual mean wage level for medical assistants. Moreover, as of May 2020, no state in the region recorded a medical assistant annual mean wage level that was above the national average.  A closer examination of BLS data reveals the following details about medical assistant pay in the Southeastern U.S. as of May 2020:

Medical Assistant Pay in the Southeastern U.S

State	# Employed	Annual Mean Wages	Wage Rank*
AL	9,380	$29,950	50th
AR	3,580	$31,530	47th
FL	56,010	$34,800	31st
GA	25,820	$34,250	37th
KY	10,110	$33,450	41st
LA	8,060	$31,110	48th
MS	3,670	$30,550	49th
NC	20,240	$34,540	35th
SC	11,840	$33,010	42nd
TN	15,900	$33,990	38th
VA	14,330	$36,730	24th
WV	3,280	$29,820	51st
U.S.	710,200	$36,930	-------

(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OES. Data extracted on May 15, 2021